A lot has changed since this book came out in 2008. (We were reviewed in Gourmet. Gourmet!)

Still, A16 Food+Wine will always have a special place in my life. It came out three years after I had left my job at A16 as a line cook to start a career writing about food. The transition wasn't easy (work in a kitchen long enough and you forget how to spell anything), and I had to learn how to write cookbook-worthy recipes on the job from a distance, since I was living in Chicago at the time.

Apart from Gourmet, the book was also praised in O, The Oprah Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Los Angeles Times, Cucina Italiana, and Publishers Weekly. Food & Wine included recipes from the book in its 2009 Best of the Best Cookbook Recipes. It was also a San Francisco Chronicle bestseller.

That this book succeeded to garner national praise was amazing to me, especially since we started with modest expectations, cobbling together a proposal and passing it straight to Ten Speed Press without an agent. What's more important is the imprint the book had on my style of cooking. The meatball recipes from this cookbook are still my favorites (both the classic pork+beef version and the chicken version), and I will never pass down a glass of Fiano from Campania. A16 Food + Wine Publication Date: September 1, 2008, with Ten Speed Press.

IACP International Association of Culinary Professionals Cookbook Awards Book of the Year and First Book/Julia Child Award Category Winner, 2009.

"Savvy diners focus on the kitchen's soulful renditions of dishes from Campania, the region surrounding Naples, and a wine list that brims with discoveries from southern Italy. Sure, have a bit of pizza, but save room for dishes such as roasted porcini with green garlic, ricotta gnocchi with squash blossoms, or sweet pea ravioli with braised pork, pecorino, and black pepper."–Wine Spectator

"This is a cook's cookbook; it deserves a quiet season filled with long chilly nights, the ideal time to enjoy its gutsy dishes." –Gourmet

"A book you really can cook and learn from." –Fine Cooking

"A testament to the rustic fare and a convivial atmosphere of the restaurant." –San Francisco Chronicle

“A16: Food + Wine is the best of the bunch. This debut book … strikes a satisfying balance between simple and complex.”–Amy Scattergood, LA Times